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We’d gotten tacos for lunch—his treat. A few hours later, we were starting to talk about dinner when our best friends showed up unannounced at the exact same time, bearing gifts. Gabe brought tamales from his mom, enough for both of us. Izzy brought pupusas.

They’d left together to go get drinks.

She liked that Gabe had brought us food, and apparently, Izzy’s brand of terrifying was Gabe’s type.

We’d brought out Seth’s coffee table to have somewhere to eat. I dragged out an area rug for underneath it, and then he carried out a floor lamp when it started to get dark. The landing was starting to look like a living room.

I smiled at my door camera app and turned on the speaker. “Hi, Seth.”

He stopped with his hand on the hook he was installing and grinned in the direction of my voice. “Good morning.”

“Whatcha doing?”

“Installing some lights. Ambiance matters.”

I laughed.

“I’m going to hop in the shower, I’ll be out in a bit,” I said. “Coffee?”

“Yes, definitely.”

I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom. This time, I did put makeup on after my shower.

When I came out with iced coffees half an hour later, he was just finishing the lights. “It looks good,” I said, smiling up at them. “Like a patio at a really nice restaurant.”

“Thanks,” he said.

I let out a happy sigh. “I’m so glad I get to be outside. You know what I miss so much?”

“What?”

“Hanging out by the pool.”

This I wouldn’t do even with Izzy’s militia of girlfriends. Too open, too indefensible. And the thought of that creep seeing me in my bathing suit made me feel physically ill.

“We should bring some plants out here,” Seth said.

“Yours. You don’t want mine, trust me,” I said, putting my straw in my mouth.

“How do you know? Show me.”

“You want to see my balcony of death?”

“It’s that bad, huh?”

Two minutes later, we were out there.

“It actually is that bad,” he said, looking around in wonder.

“I told you.”

He crouched to examine a succulent. “Maybe this could be—oops. Nope. That’s dead.” He pivoted to look at me. “Thank you for inviting me to your rotunda of root rot and sadness. I think the razor wire on the railing really pulls it all together.”

I laughed. “So you have no advice for me then?”

“I do. Don’t buy any more plants.”

“Okay, I’m going to let that slide because I laughed really hard at the cousin thing yesterday, but this is the only freebie you get to make fun of me.”